Kornmehl
Terry Aizen – Director of Kornmehl
Jewish identity
The children in the Pre-school are exposed to Jewish art and creativity every Friday. They look forward to being inspired by different Jewish provocations and extending their thinking and understanding through many different languages and mediums.
Over the last few weeks, the children have been inspired by three pieces of unusual and beautiful Kabbalah art by Tzfat artist David Friedman. When the teachers visited Tzfat on the JNF Educators Study tour, we got to meet this artist in his studio and learn about the meaning and symbolism in his artwork. We were inspired and decided to purchase some of his posters to bring back to the Pre-school. Inspiring children with such artworks, assist them to see possibilities, adding depth and detail to their already beautiful work but also adding colour and richness to their growing Jewish identity. Each week as they revisit the artworks and look more closely, we discuss and unpack what we can see, new details emerge, and the children are excited to represent their ideas visually. Their artwork has blown us away and we are excited to share some of these below.
Zach: That writing looks like it’s in Hebrew. I see branches
Alma: I think it looks like Hebrew. I see two people holding hands, religion people. It looks like a tree and the water. I like how he added the detail on the tree. How did he make that?
Renee: I wonder why the artist made the tree look like a Chanukah/Menorah.
Alma: Because he wanted to include how the people got light.
Renee: Did you notice that city over there? It’s an old city – Jerusalem.
Alma: My cousin lives in Jerusalem! I saw some tiny houses with people in the houses.
Renee: What do you think this piece of art is about?
Alma: About people connecting with other people. All the people’s hearts are connecting.
Zach: This big tree is so big! Ginormous! It looks like something about Shabbat. It looks like it’s a candle.
Teya: I also see a tree and some flowers on the tree, an Aboriginal picture.
Ella: I can see leaves like candles. I can see a tree, it’s a giving tree. I can tell by the picture.
Josh: I see a fire and people, Aboriginal people, and a tree on fire.
Lulu: I can see Hebrew letters. What does this say?
Renee: Ein Sof, there is no end. I wonder what that means.
Alma: If there’s no end, then why is there an end in the middle of the line?
Ziggy: Because they’re circles and maybe there’s an invisible line, so there’s no start and it’s just going forever.
Tamar: Well, all the circles are big, but the little purple one is actually littler than all the others.
Zach: He (the artist) must have spent a long time drawing it. He must have spent like an hour. Remember when I just started this drawing? And look how much I’ve done!
Rosh Hashanah, bees and beekeeper visit
This week we have continued learning about this beautiful Chag. We spent time decorating gift bags and making delicious honey biscuits to take home to our families to wish them a Shanah Tovah.
The children have engaged in an exploration about bees. We watched a fascinating video about bees gathering pollen. We learnt that bees are covered in millions of hairs and that they have baskets on their legs, which they use to carry the pollen. The children have been creating their own bee art installations. It has been interesting to observe how their work has evolved as their understanding of bees and their behaviour has increased.
Extending on our learning for Rosh Hashanah, we invited a beekeeper to come to Kornmehl on Tuesday. Gavin Smith is clearly passionate about bees but more than that he was able to share his passion and knowledge with us in a way that was fun and interactive. Gavin came in his beekeeper suit and explained to us the differences between European bees and native bees. He taught us how bees gather nectar, make wax and form it into cells into which they lay their eggs. We learnt about how he uses a smoker to distract the bees when he gathers the honey from the hives. He explained how you can tell the difference between a male and female bee; the male has huge eyes which he uses to search for the Queen bee.
On Friday, we celebrated Shabbat and Rosh Hashanah. We ate apples dipped in honey, delicious honey cake, round challot, sang many songs and heard Rabbi Kamins blow the Shofar. A big thank you to Daniella Alhadeff for coming in to bake the honey cake for us.
Happy Birthday
We wish a very happy birthday to Amelie Gavshon (5), Ethan Lewis (5), Oscar Lewis (3) and to our special educators – Janice Eliovson and Renee Schneider who both celebrate their birthdays in the holidays.
We wish all our Kornmehl families a Shanah Tovah U Metukah – a sweet, healthy, and happy New Year.